Daytime Curfew and Truancy Enforcement

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department’s School Resource Unit, in a collaborative effort with the Moreno Valley Unified School District and the Val Verde Unified School District, conducted citywide daytime curfew enforcement between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM. The officers patrolled the city of Moreno Valley in search of juvenile students who either failed to report to their assigned campus at the start of the school day, or left their campuses without permission while school was in session. Both of these actions constitute a violation of Moreno Valley City Ordinance 11.05.030. During the course of the enforcement, officers located and detained 21 violators. The students were transported to their assigned school for disciplinary proceedings and issued a citation to appear in court. A truant student is defined by section 48260 (a) of the California Education Code as a pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than a 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof, shall be classified as a truant and shall be reported to the attendance supervisor or to the superintendent of the school district. It should be noted, parents and/or guardians of students who have been reported as truant three or more times within a school year may be charged with a misdemeanor under California Penal Code section 270.1. The goal of this program was to take a pro-active approach toward student daytime curfew/truant violations and emphasize the importance of school attendance and how it correlates with student success in the future. The youth in the community need to be aware that school attendance is important and they need to be in school. Future operations of this type are planned.